VC-24 Gryphon
Overview The VC-24 Gryphon is a tilt-rotor aircraft in the Western Coalition's range of vehicles. Descended from similar aircraft made in the US, the Gryphon utilizes rotors that transition between a helicopter mode for takeoff, and a plane mode for flight. The Gryphon is seen exclusively in single-player, except for being a gunship attack for the air strike role for players. Armament The Gryphon does not carry large weapons, due to its transport aircraft nature, but does carry a belly-mounted Gatling cannon turret that can fold into the hull during flight. The gunship version of the Gryphon carries a 20mm Gatling cannon as well as a 105mm Magnetic-Chemical Hybrid (MCH) gun. The MCH gun is essentially a railgun, which fires high explosive shells at medium velocity Behind the Scenes In mythology, a gryphon is a hybrid animal with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle, with the body of a lion. This is reflected in the naming of the VC-24, as it has capabilities of both a helicopter, and a plane due to it being a tilt-rotor aircraft. The vehicle has several in-game archive for each of its different appearances. The main version used a transport vehicle in Campaign is referred to in the game's files as, "VHW_HEL_TransportHeli", with 'VH' standing for vehicle, 'W' for Western Coalition, 'HEL' (Helicopter) as vehicle type, and 'TransportHeli' as the role it plays. The gunship version used by the air strike role is instead referred to as, "VHW_HEL_Gunship" and is exponentially lower in polygon count (759 as compared to the main model's 20,378). This was done for performance reasons, as the gunship would not normally be seen up-close during normal game play. Inside the main vehicle's package file is the model for the sling load used to carry vehicles in scripted sequences in single-player. There is a mid-poly model of a real-world Osprey in the pack file. While this model is not seen in game, its existence in the pack file means that it was likely used as a placeholder, or was a guideline when designing the Gryphon's mesh. The pack file also includes a simplified version of the main model's textures; it includes orthographic views which are used by the gunship's mesh. Gallery Frontlines fuel of war 009.jpg|A VC-24 unloading troops WC_VC24.gif|Concept art of the VC24 Vc24 field guide1.jpg|A VC-24 gunship as it appears in the Field Guide's Roles section Gryphon ortho.jpg|The simplified textures used in orthographic view on the gunship version Osprey placeholder.png|The placeholder Osprey found in the Gryphon's pack file vc24_gunship_side.png|A render of the gunship version's model, with low poly guns showing FFOW_VEH_wc_transportHeli.jpg|Brian Burrell's render image showing the Gryphon both in-editor and in-game. Brian did the majority of the work on the vehicles while working at Kaos Studios FFOW_VEH_screenshots1.jpg|One of Brian Burrell's showcase images showing various vehicles in Frontlines; the Gryphon can be seen in the panel 3rd from the bottom on the left cards_joker_vc24.jpg|The VC-24's gunship strike as the Joker in the Collector's Edition deck of cards See Also * UH-66 Seneca Transport Helicopter * MI-11 Transport Helicopter Further Reading * Western Coalition Vehicles * Red Star Alliance Vehicles * Roles * Vehicles External Links * Brian Burrell's website with images of the work he did on Frontlines Category:Browse Category:Air Vehicles Category:Transport Category:Transport Helicopters Category:Western Coalition Category:Western Coalition Vehicles